CamTel, SOTEL ink cooperation agreement

The Cameroon Telecommunication Company (CamTel) and Chad’s Societe des Telecommunications de Tchad (SOTEL) have finalised an agreement on technical and commercial cooperation. CameroonWeb writes that the deal was signed by the two firm’s respective director generals, David Nkotto Emane and Adam Abbas Ahmed, in Yaounde late last week. Under the terms of the agreement, CamTel will assist SOTEL – which now operates under the name Groupe Sotel Tchad – with the extension of its existing fibre-optic network. The agreement also provides for training and capacity building, particularly with the operation of SOTEL’s fibre-optic network and the establishment of an appropriate pricing system. The pact forms part of the Central African Backbone (CAB) project, which aims to create a single, seamless regional network linking several countries in the region with a view to reducing the cost of internet services, particularly in landlocked Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), which lack direct access to international submarine cables. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that an existing fibre link connects the infrastructure of SOTEL and CamTel, potentially providing the former with access to capacity on the SAT-3 and WACS cables, but disagreements between the two telcos on pricing have left the connection unused for several years.